Method of concatenating fibrous elements



Feb. 1, 1955 P. M. sTRANG METHOD oF CONCATENATING FIBRous ELEMENTS Filed July 24, 1,953

United States Patent yO METHOD ,OF CONCATENATING FIBROUS ELEMENTS Peter M. Strang, Needham, Mass.

Application July 24, 1953, Serial No. 370,099 4 Claims. (Cl. 57-156) embodies an improvement upon said previously suggested procedure whereby it becomes possible to spin fibers directly into yarn without first forming them into a roving. Thus, the present invention has for its principal object the provision of a method whereby discrete fiber elements of textile length may be concatinated to form a yarn by the action of a flowing fluid without first having to form the fibrous elements into a roving.

A further object is to provide a method of assembling discrete fibrous elements to form a yarn solely by the action of flowing fluid whereby a spun yarn may be produced without subjecting the fibrous elements to the action of mechanical parts, thus avoiding the breakage or injury to the fibers which commonly results from the operation of usual mechanical spinning devices.

A further object is to provide a method of intertwining fibrous elements by the use of a flowing stream of liquid which rotates about its own longitudinal axis.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from consideration of the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein- Fig. l is a diagrammatic vertical section, partly broken away, illustrative of apparatus useful in the practice of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, diagrammatic diametrical section, to larger scale, at the junction of the non-rotating part with the rotating part of the stream.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates a receptacle of any desired capacity having an outlet passage defined by a smooth-Walled tube or pipe 2, extending for any desired distance from the container 1 and whose end 3, las here illustrated, is fixed within a stationary supporting member 4. This tube or pipe 2 has a separate end portion 5 which is straight and cylindrical and which has a smooth inner surface and which is coaxial with and of the same diameter as the portion 3. The terminal portion 5 of the delivery pipe is mounted in bearings 6 so that it may be rotated about its own axis and as here illustrated is provided with a pulley 7 which may receive a drive belt whereby terminal section 5 may be rotated at any desired speed. Preferably, the terminal portion 5 is provided with a plurality of apertures 8 for the discharge of liquid centrifugally from the pipe before the liquid reaches the extreme end 9 of the pipe.

While it is contemplated that pipes of various diameters may be employed, for example pipes of from l" to it has been found, in actual practice, that good results are obtainable using a pipe 2, with its extension 5, of an internal diameter of approximately 5/s of an inch, the receptacle or container 1 being of a height to contain liquid providing a pressure head sufiicient to maintain a velocity of the order of from two to ten feet per second in the pipe 2. The velocity of rotation of Patented Feb. l, 19,55

the terminal section 5 will depend upon the number of twists per inch which are to be placed in the spun yarn.

In the use of this apparatus, a body of liquid W is maintained within the container 1, the body of liquid being replenished at a rate such as to keep the pressure head substantially constant. Within this body of liquid, the fibrous elements F, which are to be spun, are introduced and dispersed so as to provide a substantially uniform distribution of the fibers throughout the body of the liquid. The liquid fiows freely out through the pipe 2 at a velocity dependent upon the head of liquid maintained in the receptacle 1 and provides an uninterrupted stream completely filling the interior of the pipe 2 and its terminal portion 5. The velocity of the flowing fiuid because of friction, viscosity, etc., is substantially zero at the surface of Contact of the liquid of the inner wall of the pipe, while the maximum velocity of the liquid is at the axis of the pipe. When discrete fibers, indiscriminately oriented and in free suspension in the liq.- uid of the container 1 enter the pipe 2 they are dragged along by the flowing fluid, that end of any fiber which lies nearest to the axis of the pipe tending to be pulled along with increased velocity thus causing the fiber to move bodily toward the axis of the pipe and to straighten out so that eventually the fibers Within the pipe will be traveling along in substantially parallel relation close to the axis of the pipe, as indicated at F2.

Assuming that the terminal portion 5 of the pipe is being rotated, the stream of water flowing therethrough will tend to rotate with the pipe, due to friction against the wall of the pipe, and as the stream moves further and further along the terminal section 5, it will rotate about its own axis faster and faster until a substantially uniform maximum Velocity has been attained. At the point 10 (Fig. 2) where the forward ends Fm and Fl1 of two advancing fibers, moving along the axis of the stream, first encounter a part of the stream which is beginning to rotate, such ends of the fibers will tend to move in circular paths about the axis of the stream, while their trailing portions Fy and Fx move along in a straight line. In consequence of this action, the successive fibers entering the terminal portion 5 of the pipe are intertwined so that as they approach the end 9 of the terminal portion, the fibers, as indicated at F3, (Fig. l) have been twisted together or spun so as to form a spun yarn Y. The holes 8 near the end of the pipe 9 permit the uid to escape radially, thus separating it from the yarn which may now be wound by any suitable means or mechanism, for example to form the yarn mass M, which is turned by contact with a driven roller R.

It is thus evident that by this simple expedient, the discrete fibrous elements F introduced into the body of liquid W in the container 1 are first arranged parallel and then intertwined merely by the action of the flowing stream of water and without contact with any mechanical part. The relative speeds of rotation of the yarn mass M and of the terminal portion 5 of the pipe will determine the number of twists per inch in the yarn Y, and since it is possible, by lengthening the pipe 2 and increasing the pressure head, to speed up the operation, it becomes practical to produce a spun yarn economically by the employment of a very simple apparatus and without subjecting the fibrous elements to mechanical abrasion. Thus, the process lends itself admirably to the spinning of fibrous material which has extremely small diameter and very fragile, as well as to fibrous material of more usual types.

While one desirable form of apparatus has herein been suggested, by way of example, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to the employment of this particular apparatus, but may be carried out by any other means appropriate for the purpose.

I claim:

1. That method of concatenating discrete fibrous elements to form a spun yarn which comprises as steps, distributing the fibrous elements through a body of liquid, drawing off the liquid through an elongate passage whose delivery portion is rotatable, the body of liquid providing a pressure head such as to maintain a stream of substantially uniform velocity in the passage thereby causing the fibers to migrate toward the axis of the passage and to become straight and substantially parallel to each other as they approach the delivery portion of the passage, and, within the delivery portion at least of the passage, causing the stream to rotate about its own axis, thereby to intertwine the bers to form a spun yarn.

2. That method of concatenating discrete fibrous elements to form a spun yarn which comprises as steps, establishing a owing stream of liquid in an elongate smooth-walled cylindrical passage of the order of 5A: of an inch in diameter and whose end portion at least is straight, introducing discrete bers of textile length into said stream, rotating that portion at least of the stream which flows through the delivery portion of the passage about its own axis thereby to intertwine the fibers lying at the axis of the stream, and drawing off the intertwined fibers as a spun yarn.

3. That method of concatenating discrete fibrous ele ments to form a spun yarn which comprises as steps, distributing the fibrous elements substantially uniformly throughout a body of a liquid suspending medium, drawing olf liquid with its suspended bers from said body through an elongate passage of circular transverse section and under a pressure head such as to produce a uniform velocity of delivery of from 2 to l0 feet per second, whereby the suspended fibers within the passage migrate toward the axis of the passage and arrange themselves in substantially parallel relation, and rotating that portion of the stream which is adjacent to the delivery end of the passage, thereby to cause the fibers, as they enter the rotating portion of the stream, to be intertwined thereby forming a spun yarn.

4. That method of concatening discrete brous elements to form a spun yarn which comprises as steps, establishing a owing stream of water in an elongate smooth-walled cylindrical passage, introducing discrete textile fibers of a selected average length into said stream, maintaining a uniform velocity of ow through said passage such that the velocity gradients thereby created are sufcient to cause bers of the particular selected length to migrate toward the axis of the stream and arrange themselves substantially parallel to said axis, causing the stream, as it nears the discharge end of the passage, to rotate about its own axis thereby to intertwine the fibers as they enter the rotating portion of the stream so as to form a spun yarn, separating the liquid from the yarn before the yarn reaches the end of the passage, and winding the yarn after leaving the passage to form a package.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,743,601 Gross Jan. 14, 1930 1,875,075 Mason Aug. 30, 1932 2,072,138 Sherman Mar. 2, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 326,452 Germany Sept. 27, 1920 676,722 Great Britain July 30, 1952 

